Replacement for ubiquitous lead acid battery?

[elte]

http://www.gizmag.com/rechargeable-zinc-...nnl/42930/  --   "A team of scientists working on analyzing energy flows in prototype zinc-manganese batteries have stumbled upon a new way to make these power cells much more reliable, with many more recharge cycles than the humble lead-acid car battery, but costing around the same to produce. The creators claim that the new battery could become an inexpensive, ecologically-sound alternative for storing energy from renewable sources and a high-density solution for storing excess energy from the power grid."

[C C]

I've been hearing about revolutionizing, novel approaches to batteries for years in sci-tech news; but many of them to never be heard from again or ever make it to production. One wonders what sort of industrial conspiracy is going in business land that decides _x_ fantastic battery has to be aborted and buried due to being _y_ potential threat to _z_ company or manufacturing / commercial enterprise.